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Pie by Sarah Weeks

Standalone. Scholastic (October 2011) Library

When Alice's Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily fat, remarkably disagreeable cat, Lardo . . . and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice.Suddenly, the whole town is wondering how you leave a recipe to a cat. Everyone wants to be the next big pie-contest winner, and it's making them pie-crazy. It's up to Alice and her friend Charlie to put the pieces together and discover the not-so-secret recipe for happiness: Friendship. Family. And the pleasure of doing something for the right reason.With Pie, acclaimed author Sarah Weeks has baked up a sweet and satisfying delight, as inviting as warm pie on a cold day. You'll enjoy every last bite.

Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, has passed away. Her pies were famous and she was known as a kind, caring woman. She gave away her pies and with the help of her neighbors has been supplied the ingredients. The thing with Polly was that she didn't get money out of making these delicious, famous pies. She got satisfaction and happiness out of it. Her sister, our narrator's mother, didn't see eye to eye with Polly. She thought she was selfish not to make money off her pies and she was selfish when she foud our she left her secret pie crust recipe to her cat Lardo.

Alice, Polly's niece and our narrator, with her friend Charlie go on an adventure to find out what the strange goings on are in their hometown of Ipswitch. There's something that just doesn't feel right to Alice, but her mother who's all hung up on creating a winning pie doesn't believe her. Alice is also dealing with the loss of her aunt who she loved dearly. She's the only one who really knew her and encouraged to be a songwriter. Alice is a perfect narrator. I absolutely loved how she and he whole story was written. Pie is the perfect book for children and for people of all ages. It's one of those children books that anyone can enjoy because the writing is so brilliant and the story so heartwarming.

Alice's connection to her aunt Polly was such a treat. Polly was so loving to Alice. Polly, in general, was such a kindhearted soul and really encompasses the idea of that you should live your life as a good person, who gives to others, who isn't overly concerned with making money, and lives her life to the fullest.

Alice was standing beside the bed when her aunt Polly reached a trembling hand out from underneath the leopard print bedspread (Polly loved leopard print) and pulled the girl close to whisper in her ear.
"Thank you very much."
They would be the last words Polly Portman, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, ever spoke.

There's a bit of a mystery going on that Alice and Charlie begin to investigate. Charlie isn't completely convinced there is something going on, but he helps out Alice anyway. They form a tight friendship that's really sweet. I mostly enjoyed their investigation and, of course, the imagery of all those delicious sounding pies whose recipes are all in here. You don't know how tempting it is for me to try my hand at making chocolate cream pie.

Pie is a delightful story that will leave you feeling pretty good about the world and most likely wanting to eat some scrumptious piece of pie.

"I'll miss you, Aunt Polly," Alice would say at the end of the day when it was time for her to go.
"I'll miss you even more," Polly would tell her. Then she'd hand Alice a pie to bring home to her parents, kiss her on the forehead, and send her on her way."